資格外活動許可申請書: Permission to work part-time outside your status of residence (ISA)

You file this application (資格外活動許可申請) if you live in Japan on a status of residence (在留資格) listed in Appendix I of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and you want to run a business that brings in income, or to be paid for activity, outside what your status allows. ISA says you must hold the permission before you start. Holders of Appendix II statuses, such as permanent resident (永住者) or long-term resident (定住者), have no limit on work and are not covered by this permission.

The form can be submitted by you, by your legal representative (法定代理人), or by an agent who has been recognised by the director of the regional immigration services bureau (地方出入国在留管理局長) and was asked by you: a staff member of the organisation that employs you or that you run, a staff member of the school or training body, a staff member of a public-interest corporation that supports foreign residents, or a lawyer or administrative scrivener (行政書士) registered with the bureau.

Take the application to the regional immigration services office with jurisdiction over your address in Japan (住居地を管轄する地方出入国在留管理官署). ISA lists the hours for submission as weekdays 9:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 16:00, and says some procedures have set days or times, so check with the office or with the Immigration Services Agency information centre (外国人在留総合インフォメーションセンター, 0570-013904) before you go.

Bring the completed form (one copy), your residence card (在留カード) to show, and your passport or certificate of status of residence to show. If you cannot show a passport or certificate, you must hand in a written statement of the reason. If someone other than you submits it, they must bring your residence card, and an agent must also show a document proving their identity.

The other documents depend on your status and on the type of permission. For a student (留学) who stays within the comprehensive permission (包括許可), ISA says the form alone is enough. For a dependant (家族滞在), ISA also lists the form alone for the comprehensive permission. For an individual permission (個別許可), ISA asks for a document, in a format of your choice, that explains the activity, the hours and the pay, or the contract itself. Interns need extra proof from the host organisation and the university.

ISA's online system for residence applications (在留申請オンラインシステム) covers this permission only in one case: ISA states that you can apply online only when you file it at the same time as an application to extend your period of stay, to change your status of residence, or to acquire a status of residence.

ISA's procedure page says 手数料はかかりません: there is no fee for this application. You pay nothing to ISA when you file it.

Costs outside ISA, such as an administrative scrivener or a translation, are your own arrangement and are not set by ISA.

ISA gives no filing deadline. It says to apply when you are about to start activity that falls outside your status, and the application must be filed before you start working, because the permission has to be in place first.

ISA gives the standard processing period (標準処理期間) as two weeks to two months (２週間～２か月). It also says it may ask for further documents during review. If you apply together with a new landing as a student, ISA allows the application to be made at the port of entry right after landing permission, for statuses where that route applies.

Permission is shown by an endorsement sticker in your passport, or by a permission certificate (資格外活動許可書) when you receive it by post after an online application. The back of your residence card also carries a summary of the permission.

• Starting work before the permission is granted. ISA says that if you want to run an income-earning business or be paid for activity beyond your status, you must have obtained permission beforehand.
• Working more than 28 hours a week under the comprehensive permission. ISA states the limit as 28 hours or less a week (原則として1週28時間以内). Students may work up to 8 hours a day during the long vacation of their school, as ISA states for the 留学 status, but not beyond.
• Working where a business is carried on that ISA excludes, such as an establishment run under the Entertainment Business Act (風俗営業), a sex-related business, or a specified entertainment and dining business. ISA's general rule lists these as activities that will not be permitted, and the comprehensive permission is conditional on the workplace not running such a business.
• Assuming the comprehensive permission covers every job. If the hours cannot be checked from a contract, as with a sole proprietor or a services or contracting agreement without clear hours, ISA says an individual permission is needed.
• Leaving out the signature or the date. The date of preparation must be written by the applicant or legal representative, and if any entry changes after you write the form, you must correct that entry and sign.
• Arriving without the residence card or passport. ISA requires the residence card to be shown, and a passport or certificate of status of residence, or a written reason.

• 資格外活動許可申請 (ISA procedure page, with the form)
• 資格外活動許可申請書 (PDF)
• 資格外活動の許可 (入管法第19条)
• 「留学」の在留資格に係る資格外活動許可について
• 「家族滞在」の在留資格に係る資格外活動許可について
• 在留申請のオンライン手続